Black prince succulents are one of my favorites, and I find the contrast in coloring among my succulent collection interesting! I had some trouble growing my first black prince succulent myself when I first got into indoor gardening.
I had acquired several succulents by this time, all of which preferred direct sunlight. To my horror, the black coloration started to fade to green, and it even looked somewhat sunburnt!
I have since learned my lesson about how they prefer bright indirect light and not full sun.
In this article, I share with you my step-by-step guide on all the tips and secrets I have learned about caring for black prince succulents from my first-hand experience so you know how to diagnose the problem with your succulent and save it!
Most often, I’ve found that the reason for a dying black prince succulent is often because of over-watering and damp soils, which turns the leaves soft and droopy with a dying appearance. Not enough sun causes the black prince plant stem to turn leggy, with the leaves turning green and the lower leaves dying back.
Keep reading to learn why your black prince succulent (echeveria) is dying and for the solution…
Overwatering (Leaves Turning Brown or Yellow and Mushy)
As with other succulents, the most common problem I see with succulents such as black Prince Echeveria over-watering.
For us to understand how we can save our black prince succulent, I always think it’s helpful if we understand how they grow in the wild…
Black prince succulents are native to Mexico where they grow in a hot, dry desert-like climate with gritty, well-draining soil and infrequent rainfall, but mostly shaded by rocks or other vegetation.
If the black prince succulent is watered too often, then it can show the symptoms of:
- Leaves turn yellow and brown with a mushy texture to them.
- Leaves falling off the plant.
- Drooping leaves or stems.
However, if your black prince succulent has been over-watered for some time, then I’m afraid it has probably developed root rot, which is very difficult for the plant to recover from.
However, if you notice the symptoms of over-watering and then I would scale back the watering before root rot develops and from experience, the plant can often recover.
As black prince succulents are adapted to drought conditions, over watering is more often the problem rather then under watering when they are cultivated.
If you are watering black prince succulents more than once per week, then overwatering is probably the cause of it dying back.
My Step-By-Step Solutions…
As I mentioned, the most important step is to scale back the watering and let the soil dry out when you see the symptoms of overwatering.
What we need to do is replicate the watering and soil moisture of its native environment. To do this, I water my black prince succulent with a good soak followed by drought, allowing the potting soil to dry out completely.
Pro tip: To establish how often you should water black prince succulents in your home, give the soil a really generous soak and then check to see how long it takes for the soil to dry out at the base of the pot. The best way to do this is to feel the soil at the bottom of the pot through the drainage hole in the base.
If the soil still feels moist or damp, then I delay watering for a few days, if the soil feels dry then this is the perfect time for watering.
Typically, From my experience with my black prince succulent, watering once every 2 to 3 weeks is a good watering schedule, but I must emphasize it is important to establish the optimal watering frequency for the conditions in your home by monitoring the soil’s moisture.
Often, scaling back the watering and letting the soil dry out completely can revive your black prince succulent. If you notice the mushy texture of the leaves spreading, then I would remove these individual leaves from your plant to prevent rot from spreading.
My Best Tip: I would establish a good watering regime, and in the spring and Summer, your black prince succulents should produce off-setts from the main plant, which are really easy to propagate. My black prince succulent produces produces around 2 off setts a year, which I cut off the main plant and repot it as a backup in in case my original plant dies.
If the plant gets progressively worse despite letting the soil dry out properly, then this is often due to the soil retaining too much moisture around the roots for too long or an indication of root rot.
From my experiences, the only reliable way to save a succulent with root rot (if you cannot salavge any off setts) is to take a cutting of leaves for propagation, as the various fungal pathogens that cause root rot are difficult to treat.
Watch this helpful YouTube video for how easy it is to propagate succulents from leaves:
Soil Retains Too Much Moisture Around the Roots
As I mentioned, our black prince succulents grow in their native Mexico in very gritty or sandy, well-draining soil.
A classic mistake I see is repotting succulents in ordinary potting soil…
Conventional potting soil generally retains too much moisture around the roots of your black prince succulent to tolerate and the plant develops the same symptoms of over watering with dying mushy leaves.
Soil that retains too much moisture or drains slowly is also likely to cause root rot.
The solution…
From my research in my early day of looking after succulent I quickly learned that a black prince succulent should be planted in specific succulent and cacti soil (available from garden centers and Amazon) as this replicates the well-draining, soil characteristics of its native environment.
If your black prince succulent is in ordinary potting soil that does not drain well and dries out quickly after watering, then I would replace the soil to prevent the succulent from dying:
- Take the black prince plant out the pot and gently remove the potting soil, whilst avoiding any root damage. My method for this is to run it under a tap and let the water wash the soil off roots as this is more gently then an other method I have tried.
- What you need to do is wash the pot it was planted in with disinfectant to kill any fungal disease pathogens that can thrive in damp soil. I just use washing up liquid which works well.
- Of course, we need to replant the black prince echeveria in the new succulent soil, which mimics the soil profile of the succulent’s native environment.
I have seen that some people use normal potting soil that they amend with 50% perlite or grit. I tried this last year on a different succulent, and it worked well for me, but if you are having lots of problems with overwatering, then I recommend buying some specially made ‘succulent and cacti soil’.
This step is crucial. I advise removing any significantly mushy soft leaves to prevent rot from spreading and implementing the optimal watering practices, allowing the soil to dry out between bouts of watering.
Just pull them off, or I have sometimes used pruners to prune them off to prevent the rot from spreading.
Your black prince succulent can recover if you replant it in well-draining succulent soil so that the roots can dry out properly and stay healthy, but to be honest, you may need to propagate your plant as described above because root rot has a habit of spreading through the plant and causing it to die back.
Not Enough or too Much Sunlight
As we discussed, our black prince succulents grow in open areas in hot and dry rocky areas of Mexico more often with full sun.
If the black prince succulent is in too much shade then they can lose their black color turning green and the stems can grow leggy as they search for more light.
However, if we place our black prince succulents in direct sunlight (as I did), then the black color can also fade to green.
Important tip: I’ve seen firsthand that the difference between a black prince succulent suffering from too much direct sunlight or not enough light is that the one without enough light also turns leggy as well as green, as it is searching for more light, whereas the succulent with direct sunlight fades green but stays compact.
From my research, I discovered whats happening here is the black prince that is in too much shade can redirect its energy to growing the younger leaves in the middle of the rosette, causing the older, lower leaves to turn brown, dry, and crispy, often falling off the plant.
My Tips for Solving it…
So, I unintentionally conducted an experiment with my succulents! When I lived in Southern California, the midday sun scorched my succulent, and it faded to green.
So I did my research, realized my mistake, and moved it to bright indirect light where it thrived.
However when I moved to new York I had an apartment that didn’t get much light and my black prince succulent started to get leggy! So I did some testing and found if move it to a window that gets 4 hours of morning sun followed by shade in the midday and afternoon, my succulent loved it!
My experiment shows that you need to do some trial and error when it comes to finding the right light for your succulent, but generally I can conclude if you are in a hot sunny climate, place your black prince succulent in bright indirect light and if you are in a cooler climate place it somewhere with some morning sun followed by midday and afternoon shade.
When I found the right amount of sun for my plant the colour was much stronger and my plant stayed nice and compact rather then turn leggy.
How easy it is to save your black prince succulent depends on how long it has been in the shade.
If you move the black prince succulent from an area of shade to full sun, then I recommend doing so by gradually exposing it to more light day by day.
I would exercise some caution. If the succulent goes from an area of shade to intense full sun the leaves can turn and turn brown from which they often do not recover.
My best method is to move the plant for a bit longer each day allows the leaves to acclimatize to the new levels of light and avoid sunburn.
If the stems have grown very leggy and the rosettes are drooping then they sometimes do not return to normal if the stem has been weakened.
In this case, you can cut off the rosette and plant it in another pot and it should root quickly and form a plant.
Watch the helpful YouTube video for more on leggy succulents and how to revive them:
Cold Damage
This one is more unusual in my experience, but it is important that we acknowledge that Black Prince succulents are not cold-hardy and die if they are exposed to freezing temperatures.
If the succulent is too cold, then the leaves can turn mushy in texture, and the leaves can turn brown or black depending on the severity of the cold, with a dying appearance to them similar to over watering.
In most cases, the new tender leaves tend to go soft and mushy first, although extreme cold causes the plant to die back.
The only time I have seen this was when a friend of mine kept their plant too close to a window, and the leaves were in contact with a cold window pane, which was much colder than the ambient temperature of the room.
The leaves that were in contact turned black and mushy. I actually thought it was due to overwatering due to how superficially the symptoms are but the soil was dry and the watering scheduale was spot on.
However, we had several days of freezing temperatures outside, so the succulent got too cold!
My Solution…
Our black prince succulents are very comfortable at room temperature, hence why they are such good houseplants!
The first thing I did was to move the black prince plant to a location between 55°F-80°F (13°C-27°C) consistently and ensure that none of the leaves were in contact with a cold window or in a cold air current.
If the leaves feel soft, then I recommend waiting for several days, if not weeks, for the mushy, cold-damaged part of the plant to dry out somewhat, and it should form a callus.
Once the soft part of the leaf has dried up, I cut the leaf back to below the damaged part, as I’ve learned most often that the specific cold damaged areas do not recover.
I discovered it is crcual to only resume watering the succulent when the callus of the leaf cut has healed over to prevent other potential problems.
It requires some delayed gratification, but I managed to save my friend’s black prince succulent, and it eventually grew new leaves and started to recover a normal appearance after cold damage.
If you have any questions or insights about saving black prince succulents, please share your experience below! I’d love to hear from you!
Key Takeaways:
- A dying black prince succulent is usually caused by too much moisture around the roots from overwatering or damp soils, which causes the leaves to turn soft and brown or yellow. Not enough sun causes black prince succulents to grow leggy, with the leaves turning green and the lower leaves dying back.
- Black prince plants are adapted to drought and require the potting soil to dry out between watering. Saturated soil causes root rot.
- Black prince plants grow best in full sun, with at least 4 hours of sun required for the plant to stay healthy. Too much shade causes the leaves to turn green, and the lower leaves die back.
- Black prince plants are not cold or hardy and can turn mushy or die back in cold temperatures.